Anastasiades honours Holocaust victims

Over 50,000 Holocaust survivors were hosted in Cyprus from 1946 to 1949 the foreign ministry said on Friday on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

These survivors stayed in Cyprus in camps, ahead of moving to Israel.

Making a statement, President Nicos Anastasiades wrote on social media: “We remember and honour the 6 million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered during the Second World War. We reaffirm our collective duty to prevent the recurrence of such heinous crimes and to combat the scourge of antisemitism in all its forms.”

Also commenting on the day, which commemorates the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1945, the ministry said: “On this occasion, we remember and honour the innocent victims of the Holocaust, six million Jewish children, women and men, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Roma and Sinti and others who were murdered in cold blood, in the name of the despicable, inhuman and racist Nazi ideology.”

The ministry said that they also wish to honour the survivors of the Holocaust, and the struggle of thousands of men and women against it.

“The moral duty of the international community always remains to never forget this horrific atrocity and to be vigilant in combating antisemitism and Holocaust denial, as well as all forms of hatred and discrimination, wherever and whenever they occur,” the ministry said.

Cyprus became an observer member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 2021, and the country has put in place the relative policies on a national level.

Earlier in the day, an event was held at the Jewish Museum of Cyprus to commemorate and honour victims and survivors of the Holocaust.